Don't let the excitement of the first day of school cloud your judgement of online safety.
Back-to-school season is a popular time for families to post photos online. Are you taking the right steps to protect your personal information?
With the school year starting again, social media is full of adorable back-to-school photos. Often, these pictures feature a child holding a “first day of school” sign with basic information, such as their name and grade.
While these photos are a great way to capture yearly milestones, the information shared in these photos can pose a security risk.
What you'll learn:
- How sharing personal details could put your identity at risk.
- Safety tips to keep in mind when sharing photos online.
- How to secure your social media accounts.
It might seem harmless to share your child’s basic information on social media in a back-to-school photo. However, since 59% of U.S. adults use birthdays or names in their passwords, these cute photos could potentially leave you vulnerable to a personal data risk.
Before you jump on the trend and snap a similar picture of your little one, read these tips and be cautious about what you share.
BBB's back-to-school photo tips
- Avoid sharing personal details about your child. Back-to-school photos often involve kids holding a board with their name, age, school, teacher, and grade level. Scammers could use this information to attempt to commit identity theft. If you’re one to use your child’s personal information in passwords, this also leaves you vulnerable to a security breach. Not to mention, these details are also often used as security questions for banking or credit card accounts.
- Choose generic backgrounds for your photos. Be mindful of any house numbers, street signs, or other identifiable locations in the background of your photos. Make sure no school signs, bus stops, or other landmarks are visible that could reveal your child's location.
- Double-check your privacy settings. Review your social media account’s privacy settings regularly. Be mindful of who can view your posts. You may want to remove personal information from your account that others can see, such as your telephone number or address.
- Watch out for phony friend requests. Don’t accept friend requests from strangers. Also, think twice before you accept a friend request from someone you are already connected with. It could be an impostor trying to access your information and friends list.
- Practice good cybersecurity habits. If you’re using personally identifiable information in your passwords, or if you’re using the same password for multiple accounts, it’s time to do some password management. Read BBB’s tips for creating a strong password so you can protect your accounts.